Editor's note

Does it amaze you that a loaf of good bread costs $2.50, a new car can easily run you $25,000, a middle-class, middle-sized home $250,000?

Inflation happens. For example, our 1996 Subaru Outback Legacy cost us $8,000 more than a 3-bedroom, 2-story home with basement, attic, and 2-car garage cost my parents in 1966.

So why are we surprised that $500,000 won't build a very large veterinary hospital these days?

One of the problems we have encountered in our 30 years as a firm specializing in animal care facility design is the sometimes wide disparity between what a prospective owner needs or wants in a facility and how much they can afford or want to pay for it.

Our company founder John Knapp addressed this situation over the years. One way he did so was by introducing demographic market studies to the veterinary profession as a way to locate hospitals to take advantage of the greatest opportunity for financial success. In this issue he gives us his checklist of items an owner needs to consider when deciding on a site for a new facility.

In a book soon to be published by Iowa state University Press the array of costs is described in depth. Design Your Dream: A Pre-Construction Primer, by Tom Catanzaro, DVM, of Veterinary Practice Consultants, with the help of VPC associates and architects who specialize in veterinary design, helps the vet understand his or her role in the process and the various costs involved in a construction project.

KSA's principal architect Mark Schmidt contributed a chapter to this book on how business planning can help owners to set and achieve facility goals.

There is much more to building new, or even remodeling, than direct construction costs and architectural/engineering fees. As we embark on another year, the firm's 31st, KSA plans to incorporate some essential business planning steps into our standard architectural proposals. Where previously these services were optional, we feel now they should be mandatory.

Our clients need to know the extent of costs a building project owner can incur, and the sooner the better. Since we can't read their minds, we don't know how much they know when we begin. There is no such thing as too much information when it comes to spending money. KSA strives to provide the most comprehensive business planning services in the veterinary architecture field.

- Ann Schmidt